


Stiff Upper Lip

by forgetcanon



Series: a rising tide raises all starships [1]
Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:49:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23637832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetcanon/pseuds/forgetcanon
Summary: Max doesn't need anyone to pity him, and hecertainlydoesn't need anyone to point out his mistakes for him.
Relationships: Maximillian DeSoto & Parvati Holcomb
Series: a rising tide raises all starships [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591603
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Stiff Upper Lip

**Author's Note:**

> If this seems familiar, it's because I previously published it as chapter two of [Pride before the Fallbrook](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22111390), before deciding that it really... doesn't fit there, and should stand on its own. So, here it is on its own!

Roseway was… interesting. A real chance to see their burgeoning crew in action. Their captain was turning out to be a fair shot with a rifle, and while Ms. Holcomb was no combat veteran she kept her calm under fire and proved to be an adept hand with that hammer of hers.

Their newest addition, Mr. Millstone, was neither a combat veteran nor able to keep calm. Idiot dove right in front of a concussion mine. He would be fine, thanks to Dr. Fenhill (who was proving to be an acquired taste, but seemed competent enough), but had been ordered back to the ship while the captain scouted out ahead with Ms. Holcomb and Max himself.

Under other circumstances, it would be a sound plan. Unfortunately for Max himself, it had been some time since he’d been so physically active, and the long day was catching up with him. Even worse, Ms. Holcomb caught him favoring his knee and took it upon herself to provide some unneeded and unwanted coddling.

"I need neither your advice nor your pity, young lady," Max snapped. Parvati jumped and looked down, a familiar posture for her to take when reprimanded.

Up ahead, eye to her scope, the captain said, "And you could do without a double-helping of that pride, too, vicar."

"I beg your pardon?"

"We have two options now, Max," the captain sighed, sitting back on her haunches and facing them. "Option one, we slow down or go back to the ship, for your sake. You feel like a burden, or like we're cosseting you, whatever your problem with this situation is; you lash out at us. Everyone winds up miserable.

"Option the second, we _don't_ slow down. Your leg gets worse, the pain makes you even snappier than you already are; you lash out at us. Everyone winds up miserable."

Oh, if the Captain wasn't his only ticket to Monarch, he'd have some coarser words to say to _that_. "You seem to know me very well, for someone who's barely known me two weeks."

"It doesn't change the fact that I'm right, and you know it.” She jerked her head at the road ahead and smiled, sharp-edged. “Road ahead's clear for a bit, why don't you go ahead and set the pace?"

Now this was certainly a power play. By letting Max choose their pace, she was forcing him to either slow down, which would provide merit to Parvati's pitying, or tough it out, in which case the captain would not fail to point out any time he used the sharper edge of his tongue.

Either way, he lost. Humiliating.

"Captain," Parvati said softly. "That's right mean. Just 'cause you're fighting with the vicar don't mean you should take cheap shots."

No. _This_ was humiliating.

"Nonsense," Max said, noting that the captain seemed to have taken Parvati's words like they stung. "The captain's proposal is a logical one.” And an unpleasant member of her crew was being punished for acting out. Bravo. He shouldered his shotgun and began to lead them onwards.

Parvati sighed and said something quietly to the captain. No doubt some variation on her two favorite words, 'I'm sorry.'

"Yeah," the captain agreed. "Not your fault. I didn't handle that well."

With the two of them behind him, Max couldn't exactly favor his leg, as he so badly wanted. And focusing on the road ahead- these particular marauders seemed excessively fond of their mines, as they’d discovered- took the rest of his attention. If the captain found any fault with his performance or his silence, she kept those thoughts to herself.

His leg was well and truly stiff by the time they got to the storage facility, and completing their business there and walking back to Shaw was excruciating. He was in enough discomfort that part of him was a grateful that they took their time walking back to Roseway's main settlement and stuck to the roads.

The rest of him blamed Parvati, the Captain, and his stiff damned knee in equal measure. Every step he took was a reminder of their earlier conversation, the captain's power play designed to leave him no choice but to land him in exactly this situation. Very clever, yes. He was not going to be repeating this exercise to protect his pride.

But he would find a way to get back at her for this.

Luckily, Roseway had a "bar" where he could have a finger of whiskey while the captain wrapped up business. Parvati stayed with him, still quiet, turning a bottle of Lemon Slapp around in her hands.

"Just say it," Max snapped, the second time she glanced at him.

She met his gaze head-on. "I think this whole thing was right foolhardy," she said. "There's no reason for you to be suffering like this except that you wouldn't admit the Captain was right, and now you'll be stiff for days."

"Then consider my lesson's learned," Max said dryly, a little astonished. He knew Ms. Holcomb could speak her mind, when prompted. He just so rarely heard her opinion on anything other than a piece of machinery or equipment.

"It isn't, though!" Parvati insisted. "You and the captain just want to fight each other, and we're in dangerous waters, now! What if, back in there, you'd had to move quickly? What if you got _really_ hurt, because you didn't let us take care of you."

Max's eyes narrowed. He could choose a few different angles- Parvati's newfound tactical advice, after a few days of fighting common outlaws? Her supposed insight into the minds of real adults? Her adoration of the captain that had left Edgewater powerless and dying just scant weeks before? There was really quite a few options to choose from.

But the captain entered the bar and took one look at Max's face. Her eyes narrowed in warning.

He had learned one lesson, today. 

"You make a good point, Ms. Holcomb," he said, with a bit of a rueful sigh. The captain wouldn't buy it- she had never bought it when they'd met, after all. But she would approve of his keeping the peace among the crew. No one would think well of him for making Ms. Holcomb cry. "I will heed your advice in the future. And yours, captain."

The captain hesitated just a moment, but she did what he'd hoped for. "Please do, Max. Now let's get home, before Felix builds a tossball field in the hold or something."


End file.
